South Sudan Rivals to Meet in Ethiopia

The two men at the centre of South Sudan's ongoing and devastating civil war are scheduled to meet in Ethiopia Wednesday for the first time in two years.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir will come face-to-face with Riek Machar, his former vice president-turned-adversary, in Addis Ababa, at the invitation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

South Sudan's conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between President Kiir and Machar.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the fighting. More than two million people have fled the country and another two million people are living as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in U.N.-run camps in South Sudan.

Machar has lived in exile in South Africa since fleeing South Sudan in 2016, after the collapse of a peace agreement between the government and Machar's faction, known as the SPLM-IO.

Both sides have been accused by the United Nations and human rights groups of committing atrocities against civilians.

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